Introduction And Overview

Windows Vista Build 5536 has been released to beta testers. This is the first build that truly shows what Windows Vista is capable of, and shows a great deal of improvement over previous builds. It is also “Pre-RC 1”, meaning that it is a preview of what we can expect in Windows Vista Release Candidate 1 (RC1).

This build introduces a lot of performance fixes and offers greater stability overall. The installation process is much quicker on most machines, and some people have even gotten the much desired 15-minute installation times.

As this build is a preview of Release Candidate 1, it is stable and usable on a day-to-day basis for most people. However, there are some things that you may find negatively impacts your experience with Windows Vista, and this guide outlines some of these things as well as how to remedy these issues.

Changes since Build 5472

• Installation process is faster, on average takes 20 to 25 minutes on most computers.
• The welcome screen has been redesigned and is more visually appealing.
• Addition of more sidebar gadgets (see the next section for outline).
• Introduction of icons in context menus
• Windows Aero is now tinted blue by default.
• Windows Search works and performs well.
• Color and Appearance Settings have been revised.
• The arrow button next to “Log off” has been made larger and more apparent.
• Task Bar and Start Menu Properties images have been updated to replace the old Windows XP task bar images, new options.
• A lot of older Windows 3.1 and Windows 9x icons have been replaced.
• The Welcome Center has been revised and now lists Windows Live offers.
• Now included are Windows Vista Demos and walkthroughs to show you the new exciting features of Windows Vista.

Sidebar Gadgets

Calendar – Browse the days of the calendar.

Clock – Watch the clock in your own time zone or any city in the world; the clock gadget contains eight different looks for you to choose from.

Contacts – See a list of Windows Contacts, search for a contact, or select a contact to see email address or phone numbers.

CPU Meter – See the current computer CPU and System Memory (RAM).

Currency – Convert from one currency to another.

Feed Headlines – Track the latest news, sports, and entertainment headlines.

Notes – Capture ideas, notes, and reminders in a quick and easy way.

Picture Puzzle – Move the pieces of the puzzle and try to put them in order.

Slide Show – Show a continuous slide show of your pictures.

Stocks – Monitor your favorite stocks.

Weather – See what the weather looks like around the world.

Windows Vista System Requirements

A Windows Vista Capable PC includes at least:

• A modern processor (at least 800MHz)
• 512 MB of system memory
• A graphics processor that is DirectX 9 capable

A Windows Vista Premium Ready PC includes at least:

• 1 GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
• 1 GB of system memory
• A graphics processor that runs Windows Aero
• 128 MB of graphics memory
• 40 GB of hard drive capacity with 15 GB free space
• DVD-ROM Drive
• Audio output capability
• Internet access capability

Disable the backup warning

Windows Vista includes a great new backup system built in and we encourage you to use it to prevent any data loss while testing the operating system. However, the backup system notifies you to “Start a new, full backup”, and you may find that it gets slightly annoying after a while.

If you would like to disable this warning, simply right click on the notification icon, and then click on “Disable this warning”.

Repair jagged/jumpy mouse wheel scrolling

You may notice when using Windows Aero with WDDM drivers that scrolling on web pages using your mouse wheel is slow, or jumpy. In order to work around this (until better video drivers are released), we will need to modify a registry entry which affects the scroll wheel on your mouse.

1. Press the Windows Key + R combination on your keyboard to display the Run dialog.
2. Type “regedit.exe” (without the quotes), and then press OK.
3. If User Account Control prompts you to allow the action, click on “Continue”.
4. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USERControl PanelDesktop.
5. In the right hand side, look for the REG_SZ value “WheelScrollLines”.
6. Double click on the REG_SZ value and modify its value from “3” to “2”, or “1” (user preference).
7. Click on OK.
8. Close the Registry Editor.
9. Log off Windows and then log back in.

Slow down the Windows animations when holding Shift

If you are using Windows Aero, there is a neat little registry trick that allows you to slow down the minimize/maximize animations when holding down the Shift key on your keyboard. In order to do this, we will need to modify the registry.

1. Press the Windows Key + R combination on your keyboard to display the Run dialog.
2. Type “regedit.exe” (without the quotes), and then press OK.
3. If User Account Control prompts you to allow the action, click on “Continue”.
4. Navigate to “HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsDWM”.
5. In the right hand side, right click on an empty space, hover over “New”, and then from the menu that appears, click “DWORD (32-bit) Value”.
6. Give the new DWORD value a name of “AnimationsShiftKey” (without the quotes).
7. Double click on the DWORD and then give it a value of 1.
8. Press OK.
9. Close the Registry Editor.
10. Log off of Windows and then log back in again.
11. Hold the Shift key and minimize or maximize a window. You will notice that the animation is slowed down. To stop this, simply let go of the shift key on your keyboard.

This trick can be addictive, especially with Windows Flip3D. Don’t say we didn’t warn you, we cannot be held accountable for any eye-candy addiction you may have following the usage of this tip.

Enable Aurora boot screen

If you are tired of the default boot screen in Windows Vista, there is a better looking one hidden away, and it looks like the “Aurora” that everyone has been raving about since Longhorn was in its alpha days.

To enable the “aurora” boot screen:

1. Press the Windows Key + R combination on your keyboard to display the Run dialog.
2. Type “MSCONFIG.EXE” (without the quotes).
3. If User Account Control prompts you to allow the action, click on “Continue”.
4. In the “System Configuration” window, click on the “Boot” tab.
5. Select your Windows Vista installation and under “Boot options”, check “No GUI boot”.
6. Press OK.
7. In the dialog that appears, check “Don’t show this message again”, and then click on “Restart”.
8. Your computer will now reboot, and you will see the “aurora” boot screen with text that says “Starting Windows Vista”.

Disable Hibernation

Windows places a file on your hard drive that it uses when your computer goes into hibernation mode. If you do not use hibernation mode, or your computer does not properly support it, you may want to disable hibernation and clear the file off your hard drive to free up some space (the file will use as much space as you have in physical memory, so if you have 1GB of RAM, it’s going to use 1GB of your hard drive space).

There are two ways of disabling this, through the command prompt and through the Windows user interface.

To disable Hibernation using Disk Cleanup:

1. Click Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, and then click “Disk Cleanup”.
2. In the “Disk Cleanup Options” window, click on “Files from all users on this computer”.
3. If User Account Control prompts you to allow the action, click on “Continue”.
4. If prompted to choose a drive, select the drive in which Windows Vista is installed on to and press “OK”.
5. Disk Cleanup will scan the hard drive and present you with a list of options.
6. Check “Hibernation File Cleaner”, and then click OK.
7. When asked “Are you sure you want to permanently delete these files?” click on the Delete Files button.

To disable hibernation using the Command Prompt:

1. Click Start, All Programs, and then right click on “Command Prompt”.
2. From the context menu click on “Run as administrator”.
3. If User Account Control prompts you to allow the action, click on “Continue”.
4. In the command prompt window, type “powercfg –h off” (without the quotes).
5. Close the Command Prompt window.

Disable Automatic Defrag

New in Windows Vista is the ability to automatically defragment your hard drive to increase performance. This is scheduled to be done every Wednesday at 1:00AM. However, some users have noticed some performance issues when the defragmentation is run when this schedule is missed (for instance, if your computer is turned off).

If you need to disable Automatic Defragmentation, follow these steps:

1. Click on Start, and then click Control Panel.
2. Click on “System and Maintenance”.
3. Under “Administrative Tools”, click on “Defragment your hard drive”.
4. If you are prompted by User Account Control to allow the action, click on Continue.
5. In the Disk Defragmenter window, uncheck “Run on a schedule (recommended)”.
6. Click OK.

Disable User Account Control

If you are a power user, you may find that User Account Control (“UAC”) is a bit annoying and gets in your way. If you would like to disable User Account Control, simply follow these steps:

1. Click Start, and then click on “Control Panel”.
2. In the Search box, type “User Accounts”
3. You will see a green entry that says “User Accounts” with an icon next to it, click on it.
4. Click on “Turn User Account Control on or off”.
5. If User Account Control prompts you to allow the action, click on “Continue”.
6. Uncheck “Use User Account Control (UAC) to help protect your computer”
7. Click on OK, you will be prompted to reboot.

Hide the Windows Security Center icon

If you are not fond of the Windows Security Center and wish to disable it, you may do so by following these instructions:

1. Click on the Start button and then click on “Control Panel”.
2. Under “Security”, click on “Check this computer’s security status”.
3. On the left hand side you will see an option that says “Change the way Security Center alerts me”, click on it.
4. Click on “Don’t notify me and don’t display the icon (not recommended)”

Disable Windows Aero on older PCs

If you are using an older computer, or your graphics card is older, you may find in some cases that Windows Aero does not perform optimally on your computer and seems sluggish. A lot of work has been done recently in the aspect of Windows Aero performance, but if you find things are still slow, we recommend that you switch the theme to Windows Vista Basic. While it isn’t as flashy, it doesn’t look too bad, and you should find that your display performance will increase a bit.

To switch your theme to Windows Vista Basic:

1. Click on Start, and then click on Control Panel.
2. Click on “Appearance and Personalization”.
3. Under “Personalization”, click on “Customize colors”
4. Click on “Open classic appearance properties for more color options”.
5. In the “Appearance Settings” dialog that appears, under “Color Scheme”, choose “Windows Vista Basic”.
6. Press OK.

Disable Data Execution Protection (DEP)

Data Execution Protection, otherwise known as “DEP”, is a piece of technology that was first made available in Windows XP Service Pack 2. Data Execution Protection is available as both a software layer, and if your computer’s processor supports it, DEP is also available at the hardware level to protect applications and system functions from being altered while in memory.

While this lowers the frequency of certain attacks, but it can also have some adverse effects and cause certain applications not to run correctly. If you need to disable Data Execution Protection, follow these steps:

1. Click on Start, All Programs, Accessories.
2. Right click on “Command Prompt” and click “Run as administrator”.
3. If asked for permission to run Windows Command Processor, click on Continue.
4. At the command prompt, type in “bcdedit.exe /set {current} nx AlwaysOff” (without the quotes).
5. You should receive a message saying “Operation Completed Successfully”
6. Restart your computer, DEP should now be disabled.

How to play PunkBuster enabled games on Windows Vista

If you have any games that require the use of the PunkBuster anti-cheating system and you attempt to play them on Windows Vista with User Account Control enabled, you may find that you get booted from online games or that the game crashes. In order to work around this, you can either turn User Account Control off or right click on the shortcut to the game and then click “Run as administrator”.

How to change the default AutoPlay options

In Windows Vista, the default AutoPlay options have changed so that no matter what type of disc you insert, whether it has an AutoPlay program or not, it will ask you what you want to do. This is great for when you toss a music CD into your drive so that spyware-infested root kits (Ahem, Sony) don’t automatically run.

However, in previous versions of Windows, AutoPlay was set so that any AutoPlay enabled disc would automatically run its included AutoPlay program. If for some reason you want to change the default functionality in Windows Vista to the behaviour in Windows XP and other versions, simply follow these steps:

1. Click on Start, and then click on “Default Programs”.
2. In the Default Programs window, click on “Change AutoPlay settings”.
3. Next to “Software and Games”, click on the dropdown menu, and then choose “Install or run program”.
4. Click on “Save”.
5. Close the window.